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The decision to ban President Donald Trump from Facebook and Twitter has caused the two companies to lose a combined $51.2 billion in market value. A large number of pro-Trump, conservative, and even conservative media accounts also were deleted by the two tech giants.
Large tech firms and a number of Democratic political figures have claimed Trump incited violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 though video of the speech did not prove that. The incident disrupted debates in both the House and Senate as lawmakers were forced to shelter in place while police and security attempted to regain control.
On Friday, the social media giant was again in free-fall on the Dow Jones:
On Thursday, a Black Lives Matter activist was arrested after he was identified through video inside the Capitol calling for it to be burned down. Media outlets and fact-checkers used by Facebook and Twitter had previously rated as “false” the claim that BLM or Antifa were involved. People who attended the rally claim that both groups had infiltrated the mob of Trump supporters who stormed the building.
READ: Trump beats Obama as “most admired” man in nation
Trump took to Twitter following the outbreak of violence to call on protesters to “go home in peace.” He denounced the violence as a “heinous attack” that “defiled the seat of American democracy” on Jan. 7. It is unclear who instigated the breach of the building.
Last week, Twitter first placed restrictions on a video the president posted, then temporarily suspended his account. Facebook followed suit shortly thereafter. Twitter two days later permanently suspended Trump’s account, saying it was due to two Twitter posts having violated its policies.
As users attempted to flee to Parler and other social media websites, Amazon Web Services suspended its service with Parler on Jan. 11, triggering a lawsuit from the company hours later. Most recently, Google’s YouTube removed new content from Trump’s account and suspended his channel for at least a week, saying that the channel violated its policies for “inciting violence.”
“After careful review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to the Donald J. Trump channel and issued a strike for violating our policies for inciting violence,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement to “The Epoch Times”. “As a result, in accordance with our long-standing strikes system, the channel is now prevented from uploading new videos or livestreams for a minimum of seven days — which may be extended. We are also indefinitely disabling comments under videos on the channel, we’ve taken similar actions in the past for other cases involving safety concerns.”
Experts say that the Trump ban could find its way to court as some on the left have joined conservatives saying big tech clearly has too much power.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
